Co-written by star Joe Spinell, Maniac is an 80’s classic with loads of overtop gore by legendary special effect artist Tom Savini. Joe Spinall plays the psycho Frank Zito great. No matter how many times I see maniac Joe Spinell’s character always makes me feel very uneasy. While watching Maniac I cant help but feel that the movie was inspired somewhat by Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho because the main character has mother issues. The best part of the movie is where you see Tom Savini getting blown away by Frank Zito by a shotgun and you can see why he is the king of special effects in the business. You can see that William Lustig was going for that gritty look of the street which I think he did very well.

Pete:I thought it be nice if somewhere on the page we had an memorial for the actor maybe something like: “R.I.P. Joe Spinell 1939-1989”

NOTE TO PROGRAMMERS: Another detail I wanted to mention about categories is that of course some films have elements of two or three subgenres in them. The ones that are truly not one kind will be in the Genre Mix Em Ups section.

Personally Id put Monster movies under Sci Fi, BUT then we can also add a secondary category link at the bottom of the reviews.

Example: Mad Doctor of Blood Island, that would go in the main Science Fiction (because of its science experiments theme) page with a review sub-tag that would include (Horror/Thrillers) because theres elements of that inside the sci fi story.

[quote=“PutneySwope”]
Personally Id put Monster movies under Sci Fi, BUT then we can also add a secondary category link at the bottom of the reviews.
[/quote]

Thing is, a bunch of us (Or just me and Scarface, for instance) just associate monsters (Like vampires and zombies) with “horror”. Especially if it includes gore and fright scenes. But the other type of monsters (Like you mentioned in “Experiments gone amuck”) as well as Giant Monsters (Godzilla, etc) rightfully belong in Sci-Fi.

I’d be fine with just seeing the undead-vampire-demonic posession-type monsters in the “Monster,Zombie,Sicko” category. There’s a few currently in the “Suspense” category (Demon Witch Child,The Children) that should get moved over there as well since they’re more supernatural-oriented.

LB: Yeah youre right. Vampires/Werewolves types do belong in horror. Ill move the films around. I havent seen alot of stuff, so Im not sure where some belong. Thats why you guys are a big help for this. Thanks!

In 1968, audiences were treated to an unconventional comedy about a naive sexy girl who walks the earth to help everybody who needs help. Based on a satirical novel by Terry Southern, the movie follows innocent Candy, who stumbles from one situation into another, and meets one kookie character after another. This results in a episode-structured and quite enjoyable piece of work, full of exaggeration and humor. It’s sort of “Alice in Wonderland” for grown-ups. Every male character she meets along the way, like the poet, the doctor, or the fake guru, wants to get in her pants. There is brief nudity and various sex scenes, but those are also brief and very tame. (Don’t forget, this is a 1968 movie released into mainstream) Back then, that was enough to give the movie an R-rating.

You wouldn’t believe who they got to star in this: Marlon Brando, Walter Matthau, Richard Burton, James Coburn…an Ex-Beatles member makes a cameo too. While watching Candy, it’s best to stop trying to make sense of all it. Excluding children, people tend to dissect and over-analsye things in movies. I found it best just to “let it flow” and have a good time with it. Some people might argue that this movie is best viewed while being high on drugs. It’s sort of a Hippy movie, after all. But I cannot rule out the possibility that the makers of Candy wanted people to think harder about it. Are they making fun of militarism and eastern Religion? If you want to, you can easily interpret stuff into Candy, like symbolism and critique on society, instead of just viewing it as a comedy. I found the latter to be the more fulfilling experience. Then again, i cannot relate to Hippie culture and wasn’t even born when the movie came out.

If you can’t take the offbeat nature of Candy, skip a chapter or two, and watch the visually beautiful long take at the end of the movie. It should impress even film scholars.

I find it to be a worthwile, funny expierience. The alternative nature of the movie feels reliefing to me. There’s never gonna be another movie like Candy, that’s for sure.

P.S.: It would probably fit best in the “Genre Mix em ups” section, described as (Sexploitation, Comedy) It’s arguably too soft to put it in Sexploitation, but I leave that to you.

This apocalyptic tale of the future(at that time 2001 was the future) transforms Jobe Smith, the original Slingblade, into an esoteric genius through the use of computers and the technical skills of mad scientest Dr. Lawerence Angelo (Pierce Brosnan). While it is easy to look back on tales like 1984, War of the Worlds, and 2001, A Space Odyssey and laugh at their very inaccurate depiction of the future, we must acknowledge the creative capacity of pioneers like Stephen King who dare to give us the ultimate scare - the fear of times to come.

What this film lacks in dialogue and plot is well made up for with its extremely vivid special effects and hallucinogenic photography. A must for anyone who wants to reap the effects of LSD or Mushrooms to the fullest extent. Even by today’s standards the special effects utilized in this film are spectacular.

With this said, I give The Lawnmower Man the lowest rating possible as I fell asleep in the theater the first time that I saw it. From its no-name cast to its horrible plot, this movie is a complete waste of time.

[quote=“Kilgore Trout”]
With this said, I give The Lawnmower Man the lowest rating possible as I fell asleep in the theater the first time that I saw it. From its no-name cast to its horrible plot, this movie is a complete waste of time.
[/quote]

Ahah, that’s a good review, you get straight to the point, pretty good sum-up and we sure all want to avoid the movie now

[quote=“PutneySwope”]
Kilgore, thanks for the review, I appreciate it BUT the only problem is, thats not a Grindhouse flick.
[/quote]
I was not aware that they had to be about grindhouse flicks…although, the cast of TLM was shitty enough for it to be one.

Kristy (Jess Walton) is on the run from her evil biker boyfriend, Rebel (Clint Ritchie) who’s the leader of the “Death Row” Biker gang. She ends up seeking shelter and protection in a hippie compound led by Alex (Paul Prokop), and believe me, this guy is super hippie! But it isn’t long before Rebel and Death Row finds out where she’s at. From there, they terrorize the hippies,Crucify Alex on his large, home-made Peace Symbol,and brutally have their way with Kristy which includes drugging her up,raping her, and dragging her with their motorcycles.

Barely conscious, Kristy escapes and is picked up by a mostly-black biker gang who have a female leader named Black Widow (You gotta see this chick to believe it!) Come to find out, Black Widow and Rebel go way back…And they aren’t friendly! So a re-cooperated Kristy once again is back at Alex’s hippie farm, but Black Widow warns the hippies that Death Row will come back for Kristy. The hippies ain’t taking this shit no more and are gonna team up with Black Widow’s gang to turn their peaceful playground into a bloody battlefied! But will Mr. Super-Hippie, Alex, finally muster up some balls and join in on the carnage?

Despite the one-dimensional plot and one very long chase sequence, I can’t find too many other faults in this one. The movie just KICKS ASS! You can’t help but to just stand up and cheer at the climactic, big brawl in the end.

Acting is decent for this kind of material. Probably the big stand-out is Rebel. Ritchie’s performance as the evil biker is uneven at times. Scary one second, and over the top in the next, which works out just fine (Even the way he frequently yells, “SHUT-UP!” is guaranteed a laugh) And Black Widow (Played by Lavelle Roby) is certainly a scene stealer. Sure, she’s got a few good lines, but check out those wild facial expressions on her! Some pretty good special FX in this one too. Including one nice brief but effective machete-splatter in the final fight. And OUCH! Watch out for the pencil torture scene! Yes, I’ve seen EVIL DEAD, but man…this one sure made me wince!

The director, Douglas Schwartz, went on to uhhh…Ahem direct some episodes of Baywatch, but man oh man, he sure left behind one delicious slice of Grindhouse euphoria. Here’s wishing that justice gets served and that THE PEACE KILLERS soon finds it’s way on DVD so that more cult-nuts won’t miss this one.

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes…what can I say that the title failed to mention? Basically, imagne a time when people in gigantic tomato costumes roam the streets day and night in search of human flesh. The near-zombie-like tomatos almost succeed in their plot for city-wide domination only to meet their doom to a group of scientists who turn them into marinara.

I enjoyed this one very much as a kid, especially the scene where the only african-american tomato was sharing the corpse of a freshly killed woman and uttered the phrase “you want some tit?”. This is as grindhouse as it gets folks. I give it an 8.5/10.